SF the go-to spot for GLAAD awards, global climate summit

1of2Philanthropist Ariadne Getty was the inspiration behind the renaming of the GLAAD Gala award this weekend in San Francisco.Photo: Ricky Middlesworth

2of2Stanlee Gatti at the Giants Play Ball lunch with Gump’s devotees Meagan Levitan (center) and Kathleen Dowling McDonough.Photo: Catherine Bigelow / Special to The Chronicle 2016

Actress and #MeToo advocate AlyssaMilano will be honored by GLAAD on Saturday, Sept. 15, at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco for her work amplifying acceptance of the LGBTQ community. However, the GLAAD award she receives has been renamed for AriadneGetty, another LGBTQ activist.

Yup: those Gettys. Ariadne, who lives in Los Angeles, is the niece of our very own philanthropist-composer GordonGetty. She is a GLAAD trustee who recently gave $15 million to the organization’s Media Institute ensuring LGBTQ stories receive representation in Hollywood and the news. Getty also runs her own foundation assisting disenfranchised populations and working with the United Nations Foundation on such issues as women’s health and climate change.

Green scene: Speaking of climate change, that burning topic — even more crucial since the president’s Paris Accord pullout — overtakes our fair city this week with the arrival of some 4,500 delegates participating in the Global Climate Action Summit, an initiative conceived by Gov. JerryBrown.

The heavy lifting will be provided by scientists, world leaders, politicians, business executives and activists such as former N.Y. Mayor MichaelBloomberg. Heck, even legendary rocker-poet-badass PattiSmith will alight Friday (Sept. 14) at the Masonic for the Pathway to Paris concert with the Grateful Dead’s BobWeir.

The core group quickly expanded from six people to 35, creating affiliate climate-related events to echo the invitation-only summit.

“Charlotte asked, and because of how much she does for the city, we all signed on — it’s just how she gets things done,” Moscone said. “And her protocol office has provided incredible support,” Moscone continued. “What I’m also excited about is now we have a template to quickly organize for future events shining a national spotlight on San Francisco.”

And the S.F. Symphony is playing along, too: Maestro MichaelTilsonThomas conducts a series of environmentally evocative concerts (Sept. 13-16) that will include “Appalachian Spring” as well as performances by YujaWang and AbigailWashburn accompanied by images from the “Coal + Ice” exhibition (at Fort Mason Center) and a conversation with Coal + Ice Festival Director TomCorwin.

“Culture for Climate is a collaborative effort of the Yerba Buena and surrounding arts community to amplify the issues of climate change through performance, art and engagement,” explains Moscone. “The arts, for me, are the most universal access point for anyone to creatively engage in crucial topics.”

Gump’s in the dumps: Well, we finally faced the beast — the almost empty shelves at the once-vaunted Gump’s. And if you haven’t used those gift cards tucked away in your sock drawer, it’s too late. That deadline, along with registry credits from your last wedding, has passed.

The once-proud staff, now weary and beleaguered, attempted optimism the store could stay open until the end of the year, replenished by a mysterious warehouse full of merch. But they had no idea, when asked for the gazillioneth time, whether Gump’s beloved Christmas ornaments might appear for this slash-and-burn sale.

Charlotte Shultz may miss Gump’s the most: For decades she shopped there for friends and dignitaries alike. Gump’s printed her Office of Protocol holiday cards and created speciality gifts such as mayoral ornaments and S.F. scarves.

“I even knew RichardGump, the founder’s son,” Shultz recalls. “He was a charming San Francisco character, always mentioned HerbCaen’s column. But the charm really left the store when the family sold and it changed locations.”

Another EssEff native, MeaganLevitan, found the Gump’s sale depressing: “It was like a biblical scene with locusts descending on not-that-great merchandise.”

Levitan vividly recalls her excitement when she became engaged to her husband, DaleCarlson: She enacted a sacred San Francisco bridal tradition by registering at Gump’s.

“Dale wanted nothing to do with that,” Levitan says, with a laugh. “But my mom (MaureenSullivan) and I were in heaven for hours picking out china, silver and crystal.”

Levitan still treasures the die-cut plates from their Gump’s engraved wedding invitations. And for a recent casual Sunday supper, she used her Gump’s wedding china and silver.

“And I threw it all in the dishwasher! I believe in making the traditional parts of your life fit into conventional practicalities,” she explains. “I shopped at Gump’s year-round. And that was the point about growing up with Gump’s: It was special.

“Now as more of our old city touchstones are disappearing, I believe we have to work harder to find what remains special and honor that.”

Catherine Bigelow is a freelance reporter-columnist-blogger who specializes in coverage about boldfaced names and A-List affairs. A fourth-generation Northern Californian, Miss Bigelow first divined her love of San Francisco by reading the dispatches of such classic Chronicle columnists as Pat Steger, Stanton Delaplane, Charles McCabe and Herb Caen. She began her newspaper career at The San Francisco Chronicle in 1995 as an editorial assistant to the features department's editor and columnists. She became a features reporter in 1999 and was assigned the society column in 2004.

Catherine left The Chronicle in 2007 but continues to write features for the paper and a twice-weekly society column.